Fresh, infectious, and a joy to read. I enjoyed the diary-style of writing and the characters of Isla and Gala were real and relatable and hilarious at times. I would definitely recommend this to my book club as a great read.

I would have loved to read this book but the eARC has so many missing letters and words it’s a little chaotic. But the plot sounds really good and I’ll check it out from the library when it comes out

Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados was a bit of a struggle for me. While I enjoyed seeing the 20 somethings try to survive in a fabulous city, I need more of a plot to keep my attention. I found that I did not look forward to returning to the book to finish it.

I just could not find my way into this one... I don't know if it's just a right book, wrong time thing or what, but while I found the writing style engaging I just never felt connected to the story or characters in a way that compelled me to want to keep reading. This one just wasn't for me.

There seem to be many books come out in the vein of Sally Rooney's plot lines - young lost twenty year old females trying to attempt to piece their lives together. I am from that demographic and find the idea of reading stories about other women in the position as me comforting, but most of the time I do not find these books to be written well. I thought "Happy Hour" had an interesting plot line of having a young woman vacillate between London and New York, lost in her life. I found the writing though to be too simplistic and couldn't get into the story. .

I was very excited to jump into this book. Regrettably, I found it a bit disappointing a hard to get through. While Grenados is a clever writer, the two main characters were dry and, at times, just unlikable. Moments in the book made me nostalgic for my own twentysomething experience in NYC, but overall I just did not fall in love with this story. Thank you to ARC and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review.

Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados was a book I was really looking forward to reading. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to hold my attention. I will pick this up against a later time hoping I will enjoy it more.

Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados follows best friends Isa and Gala on an epic summer adventure in New York City. They're always up to something and the book is filled their adventures and exploits. While the book only spans a few months, both central characters see a lifetime of experiences in the Big Apple and experience meaningful growth. Perfect for fans of the tv show Girls.

This book was great! I would definitely recommend it to a friend. While I have not heard much about it publicized, I know others would enjoy it. Thank you for the ARC I really appreciate it!

Engrossing characters and I totally imagined them like the Gossip girls characters after they leave school. Around half way through the book, I got tired of the diary style and the characters' "I don't care" attitude. It feels like a glamourous world but I'm not sure it's one I would want to be part of.

I could read Granados (via her protagonist, Isa) characterize human beings for an hour straight. There is something diabolically enjoyable about the ability to capture and then fillet an archetype in just a few lines. It reminds me of Hemingway, honestly, in the Parisian novels where artistic twenty-somethings take turn fashioning their own insecurities into a lashing for those around them.

The voice is authentic, barbed, a delicate balance between striking observations about the world (and its expectations for her) and the naïveté you must possess to think you can make it in NYC with only a few dollars to your name.

It is entertaining to follow these two twenty-one-year-old women as they hustle their way to socialite status, flitting in and out of the NYC party scene. As poor immigrants without proper documentation, the hustling is a form of survival for them, partying their way to a free meal and cab fare. They can sense the aching want of the men in these circles and deftly manipulate and charm them, although it never seems cruel. The men, most often, are outclassed in their own games.

And it better be damn entertaining, because it is 90% of the book. If I was lucky enough to find myself in their entourage for the weekend, I would be waving them off by 2am. "No, you go ahead, I'm going to crash for the night. I need some water." The book runs it course in 100 pages, and because we are not invested in the emotional arc of these girls (because there is no arc, only the present), the second half is exhausting. I found myself skimming, searching for any scene that didn't involve aperitifs or a boring artist trying to justify his solipsistic ramblings.

Near the end, we get into the emotional detritus left by Isa's mother dying and the fallout of fighting with her best friend. Even then, it seems as if the novel, much like Isa, wants to return to the party, afraid that a lack of attention is a small death itself.

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Happy Hour by Marlowe Granad0s is about two women, best friends but who go through life as sisters. They move to New York on a whim with no plan whatsoever and are taking every day by the ear. The title reflects the book, we see these women, their personalities, how they look at life and what drives their characters with their interactions with others only through the Happy Hour an always with a drink in hand. These are 21-year-olds who are just trying to figure out life, and how to be an adult all the while being nudged to be self-aware about what they're running from.

The story is told through our narrator Isa's diary, so if that style isn't for you then it would not be a good idea to pick this up. BUT if you're looking for fun, just find yourself ever relating to people who just want to figure out how to get their next meal this book is for you. Although, I must say there isn't a plot to this book. It just details the summer of two women who have moved to New York, that's it. I suppose it is meant to be that simple. Marlowe is a really good writer for talking about the way women have been belittled especially women of colour since the protagonist is one. Definitely would recommend this as an airy read that you get through in a couple of days.

Thank you Verso Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a quirky upbeat story of two best friends exploring the world in their early 20s. I enjoyed the relationship and witty banter between Isa and Gala and their happy go lucky, carefree attitudes towards life in NYC.

Fast-paced, messy, young: these are some of the words that describe Isa and Gala, two friends who have come to New York to live. And when I say live, I mean LIVE. These two women are complex, nuanced, and growing into themselves, as demonstrated by their experiences from the beginning to the end of the book. We watch them literally living by the skin of their teeth, broke and searching for fun, meaning, and quick love in an unforgiving city.

Isa is our narrator, a writer and observer, someone who is confident and alluring. I loved her perspective, the unapologetic way she carried herself, and the way she dissected the people she met. I loved how Isa and Gala handled their friendship: they loved each other deeply, but at times disliked one another and became deeply annoyed with the sheer amount of time they had to spend together, or the difficult situations they found themselves in. This is as much a story about self discovery as it is watching your friends grow. Gala and Isa live this summer fast, together and separate.

If you have ever had a youthful summer where you’re reckless, perhaps party too much, or meet the wrong kinds of people, this is a story you will enjoy. Thank you toNetGalley and Flying Books for the ARC.

Happy Hour reminds me of what it's like to be able to socialize and see people in a care-free way. Very pretty writing and perceptive descriptions of a summer in New York for two young women with the ambition to be entertained. Enjoyable!

I actually really liked this book - definitely way more than I initially thought I would. I struggled to get past the first 10%, and as a result I put off reading it for a couple of days; I thought I was going to DNF it. But, once I picked it up again, and realized that the characters were perhaps not even meant to be likeable in the first place, I actually read it fairly easily.

I think that this is one of the key aspects of the book, however: I'm still not entirely convinced we are supposed to like the characters. Isa, our narrator, is fascinating, and being inside her head and seeing the world, New York, and early 20s through her eyes was a mesmerizing experience. Of course, precisely because she is so young and navigating so much, she is not an entirely reliable narrator, but more of a subjective one. I don't think that we, as readers, are meant to take everything she says or the way she interprets people and events at face value. Once I realized - or decided - this, it became far easier for me to enjoy the book and let it take me to New York.

As you may know, I've had a strange fascination with New York ever since I was in my early teens (yes, I was obsessed with Gossip Girl, how did you know?!), so a book set in New York will always be slightly more enjoyable for me than if it were set anywhere else. I think this one in particular made really good use of the city's landscape, and its people, the way urban landscape plays into and shapes one's experiences in the city. In that way, it kind of reminded me of Friends & Dark Shapes , which I absolutely adored, so that was another element of the book I really enjoyed.

My main complaints about the book are that, a) it felt way longer than 280 pages, and b) the secondary cast of characters was a bit too big for my taste; eventually many characters ended up blurring into one, and I would often forget if we've seen them before, and what exactly did they do up until that point. Apart from that, it was a pretty enjoyable book and a very interesting study of a fascinating girl's even more fascinating inner world.

** An ARC was provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. **

This book is... difficult to describe. Similar in style to Catcher in the Rye, it’s written in stream-of-consciousness style diary entries from our main character Isa. Her diary chronicles her summer in New York with her best friend Gala. They are the picture of youth, using rich men to keep up their partying habit, and living without knowing where their next meal is going to come from.

In many ways, this book did work for me, there were lines that were really insightful, and some sections were super well written. However, at other points, I felt this book really dragged. I wanted more plot, or at least more character development- by the end of the book I didn’t feel like much of anything had really happened. Though there were glimmers of really fantastic writing, I found myself getting bored and needed to take breaks because not enough was happening. In fact, I don’t think the writing is the issue, Granados can write, I just didn’t feel any real connection to any of the characters. In fact, at times, Isa felt very ‘mean girl’ to me, and I didn’t really want her to succeed.

Given that this book is essentially Isa’s diary, I wanted to feel like I knew her. It’s implied that she can be rather aloof and uninvested in the lives of those around her, but you’d think she’d let her walls down a bit in her own diary. Regrettably, she didn’t. I don’t by any means think this book was bad, especially for a debut, I just think maybe it wasn’t the book for me.

This is not just a book, it's the story of a whole summer. I have felt really related to it and had a great fun reading it.

Happy Hour by by Marlowe Granados, published by Verso Books (US) is a book that is hard to review. I kind of liked the storyline. I definitelly liked the writing, but I couldn't connect with the characters.
All in all an ok read, There were some formatting issues that made it hard to get into the story, I assume these will be fixed til release day.

Very interesting before Instagram book about two friends that move to New York City from London. They move into a brownstone right in the midst of their landlord having a house party. People keep barging into their room thinking it is the bathroom with no idea that someone actually lives there. For me this is a fun rom-com beach read.